FADED AND GONE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 123, 20 November 1926, Page 10

FADED AND GONE

"PEDESTRIANS CROSS HERE" MARKINGS THAT MEAN VERY LITTLE CONTHOL FOR VEHICLES ONLY. Some weeks ago a number of the busier street intersections were handsomely marked out by —hite paint lines, , and between them, near tho pavements, were stencilled the words, "Pedestrians Cross Here." Traffic and weather have , accounted for most of the paint, and those lines which are not faded and .'gone are going rapidly. Shortly, howcertain of the crossing places will!be more permanently marked out by c porcelain studs let into the road sur-;-face. • . . They should also have a most haiid- ' some appearance, but unless something 'more is done than to plug in a "Pedesj.trians Cross Here" .notice, they will i. probably be no more effective, nor will j;,they add any more to the pedestrian's ;■ safety or the motorist's peace of mind. £The great probability is that unless' a |bylaw is drawn up and that bylaw is by. something more than ano*,tice, the majority of people will not the slightest attention to the crossling places. Enforcement must mean jjthe attention of traffic officers, but as traffic staff is a mere i; skeleton it is unlikely that men can be ?'spared for this work. DANGER RATHER THAN PROTECTION. 5" It has been suggested previously, and ; probably there is a good deal in the j ideaj that white lines which really mean ■'nothing and have no bylaw backing are ' a source of danger rather than a help. There is no doubt that many people, particularly women, have an idea that ias long aa they cross the roadway be- '• tween the white lines they can cross 'how they like, in other words, that if ; a motorist should be so unfortunate as r t to bowl them over between those lines ■ the motorist is. to blame and they are > blameless. Accordingly, they go ahead everything on Wheels to stop Sjust outside the lines until they are i ■safely over. Some drivers may agree with that point of view, but most of them do not, and between these counter-opinions i. there are possibilities of any number 'of accidents. As a matter of fact, no ■\ motorist wants to run anyone down, but if nine pedestrians look out when about to cross tho road and the tenth : iioes not, then the tenth is always liable to meet with trouble. Without enforcement of a generally known bylaw these .markings,, whetlier iin.white paint or whito studs, or paint or studs in all the colours of the rain- ' bow, are of very little use, if of any at ■ail. ; ■■.■••'■■•■ ' . PEDESTRIANS TAKE THEIR CHANCE. .' It has become a general policy in , most citie§, I>f any size that the pedestrian as well as the motorist must obey traffic' control signals. Not only must the pedestrian cross the roadway at the ■light place, but ho must cross at the ;i/ght time. When east-west traffic is running pedestrians move east-west; ■when the north-south flow commences j pedestrians move north-south with it. : Where traffic is extremely heavy there • is no question about the advisability, of .that rule; ,it is obviously • essential.' But ia Wellington the pedestrian has to take lit chance, because the points■.man conines his attention solely to road .traffic. It must be admitted that Wellington's traffic ia not yet extremely .heavy, compared with overseas traffic, but it is rapidly passing on from the .very heavy degree. Young people are not to be much worried over, but old folks and womenfolk with children run very many risks that | would be avoided were traffic control to be made wide enough to' embrace foot as well as wheel traffic. ; HIS MAJE3TT THE BABY. " ' Everyone remembers a once-popular picture, "His Majesty the Baby," •wherein a London constable holds up a mile or so of traffic, mostly plunging horses. and crowded omnibuses, while a very small girl in white is conducted across the street by a nursemaid. That picture could never have be«n painted from a Wellington study, rather would the artist have shown the nursemaid going home by back* streets or waiting on, the footpath for a chance to get over somehow. . ' Courtenay place has so many times been, referred to as a dangerous area that the theme grows stale, but it is . dangerons to the pedestrian, particularly so from the corner of Clyde quay . and Courtenay place to the foot of Ma- . joribanks street. Here there are half A dozen lines of traffic to be watched, and those lines move as other lines are clear, with a woman and His Majesty the Baby marooned half-way across, with other members of the Boyal Fam*ly tagging-on behind.